Transforming Sampling into Shopper Marketing: · PDF fileTransforming Sampling into Shopper...

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS: IN-STORE SAMPLING

A supplement to Shopper Marketing magazine

Transforming Sampling into Shopper Marketing: Walmart’s “Bright Ideas” Event Program

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThe world’s largest retailer is hosting in-store events that present a “next generation” model for sampling and demonstrations by:

PRESENTS:

OCTOBER2009

2 Industry Insights

RESEARCH REPORT: IN-STORE SAMPLING

Since fall 2008, Walmart has been undertaking an ambitious plan to re-engineer its stores in an e!ort to create an environment that its 140 million weekly shoppers will "nd easier and more pleasant to shop.

Known as “Project Impact,” the unprecedented transformation involves nearly every aspect of the store, from SKU counts, product assortments and category adjacencies to merchandising tactics, in-store communi-cations and customer services. The underlying goals echo key tenets of Walmart’s corporate mission: to o!er its customers lower prices, higher-quality goods and a better store experience.

Walmart’s plan comes during a seminal period in the marketing industry, a time when product manufactur-ers have embraced the store as an important venue for consumer marketing; retailers have leveraged their environments to build their own brands and strengthen their relationship with customers; and both parties are developing the skills needed to conduct “shopper marketing,” a dramatically di!erent philosophy that requires a deep understanding of shopper needs and the development of collaborative, insights-driven marketing programs to satisfy them.

The company’s e!orts to improve the shopping experience also entailed a re-evaluation of its in-store mar-keting practices to identify programs that would better resonate with customers — especially the “Moms” who account for more than 70% of the chain’s business. In short, the company wanted to reduce the number of in-store communication vehicles it utilizes while making the existing programs more meaningful. The resulting changes include the ongoing conversion of “Walmart TV” into the “Walmart Smart Network” and a de-empha-sis on in-store radio messaging.

Among the more signi"cant developments in this respect was the February 2009 launch of “Bright Ideas,” a weekly program that makes product sampling and demonstrations an integral part of the store experience. The program is managed by Shopper Events LLC, Bentonville, AR, a company formed last fall to serve as the o#cial — and exclusive — planning and coordinating company for all of the retailer’s in-store events.

The Shopper Events operating model takes the promotional practice of sampling to a new level by assigning speci"c personnel to each store; utilizing a unique, branded sampling station that becomes a destination in its own right; and striving to deliver integrated, themed programs that provide shoppers with lifestyle solutions rather than simply handing them trial-size products.

By transforming the traditional tactic of in-store sampling — a product-focused activity, often with only short-term sales goals in mind — into a customer-centric strategy designed to drive sales while simultaneously


After only six months, the Bright Ideas carts have become an integral aspect of the store environment and a welcome destination for many shoppers. “Our customers really like the experience,” says Walmart’s Terry Nannie.

Industry Insights 3

improving the shopping experience, building customer loyalty and fostering brand a#nity, the “Bright Ideas” concept could even be viewed as a prototypical example of “shopper marketing.”

“The in-store sampling experience at Wal-mart is absolutely best in class,” boasts Stephen Quinn, the retailer’s chief marketing o#-cer. “We’ve renewed our dedication to our cus-tomers by providing them with a clean, friendly and consistent experience throughout all of our store formats.”

BRIGHT MARKETINGSampling has long been one of the more widely used promotional tactics among consumer packaged goods manufacturers. Demonstra-tions are well known to be an e!ective means of introducing new products in consumer electron-ics, toys and a variety of other categories. Simply put, the easiest way to induce trial is to literally put the product into the consumer’s hand.

The immediate “day of” impact that a sam-pling/demonstration event can have on sales has been documented extensively. While there has been no de"nitive work as of yet, some academic research suggests that in-store events can also increase sales in the long-term. One recent study by Knowledge Networks/PDI identi"ed sub-stantial sales lifts as much as 20 weeks after the sampling event was conducted. 1 Other studies have hinted at the potential e!ect of sampling on total-store sales and customer loyalty. 2

A 2008 Arbitron survey3 of roughly 1,900 U.S. residents found that:

receiving a sample;

consumers) buy the product on the day they receive the sample;

product in place of another one;

plan to buy it in the future.In the case of several retailers, sampling has

become an integral part of the in-store experi-ence, perhaps most notably at warehouse clubs Costco and Walmart’s own Sam’s Club. Formal programs also o!er a point of di!erentiation from competitors. Supermarket chain Publix, for

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Total USPopulation

Total WalmartShopper

Mom WalmartShopper

Index100

“I often buy things spur of the moment”

Index110

Index117

45%

50%

55%

60%

Total USPopulation

Total WalmartShopper

Mom WalmartShopper

“I am in!uenced by sampling events”

Index100

Index115

Index116

consumers identi"ed sampling as having the greatest in$uence on purchases among all in-store tactics – even more than product packaging

“Mom” — is more likely than the average U.S. consumer to make impulse purchases in the store and be in$uenced by sampling events.


one, has leveraged an ongoing recipe

cooked and sampled in stores) to not only in$uence purchase but also build customer loyalty.

A syndicated national consumer sur-vey conducted by Simmons found that

than the average U.S. consumer to be

the fact that Walmart shoppers also are

things spur of the moment”), according to the study, that fact makes the prospect of conducting sampling events at the world’s largest retailer even more enticing.

BRIGHT PLANNINGBut Walmart wasn’t looking to simply launch a formal calendar for sampling when it began searching for a new in-store event solution in early 2008. The retailer’s goal was to develop a program that could truly generate excitement among shoppers — to serve as another pillar of the “Project Impact” mission.

“We want everything that we do in-store to be rel-evant to the customer,” says Terry Nannie, who as senior director of marketing oversees the execution of both Bright Ideas and the Walmart Smart Network. “We needed to create a professional, on-brand strategy.”

Previously, Walmart had employed a roster of nine di!erent in-store event companies, which made it impos-sible to create any kind of consistency from one event to another, or often even from store to store during the same event. While individual events were often successful — the sheer volume of tra#c in stores would almost guarantee at least “day-of” success — they collectively did little to enhance the customer experience or further

even responsible for in-store events, which instead were managed by the business development group.)

After evaluating possible vendors and testing potential programs, Walmart decided in October 2008 to contract with Advantage Sales & Marketing, Irvine, CA, and CROSSMARK, Plano, TX. The two giants of sales and marketing services agreed to share executional responsibilities and co-manage Shopper Events.


BRIGHT IDEAS AT A GLANCE:Days of operation: Thursday-SundayHours of operation: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.Avg. event duration: two daysAvg. no. samples/demos:Avg. no. brand impressions:Cost:Minimum store count: NoneLead-time:

Brochures and other marketing collateral enhance the sampling events by explaining the theme and providing shoppers with a take-home o!ering “solutions” that they can reference in the future.

4 Industry Insights

The new partners had roughly 12 weeks to get the program up and running for Walmart’s targeted launch during Super Bowl weekend, Jan. 30 - Feb. 1. “We had 47 tasks associated with starting up the Shopper Events organization, and the process we used helped us compress a normal timeline to build a suc-cessful organization with speed and launch into 1,000 supercen-ters that weekend,” explains Brian Pear, vice president and general manager of Shopper Events.

The program was added to

stores were selected based on their overall performance, ac-cording to Nannie.) By the end of the summer, “Bright Ideas” had also launched in 27 Neighbor-hood Market supermarkets, four Marketside by Walmart stores and the two Hispanic-focused Supermercado de Walmart sites that opened in the spring.

Shopper Events now is con-ducting thousands of events

interactions and 2.8 million samples per week. While not every Walmart shopper is exposed to the events, Pear

media option — probably with the one exception being a television ad during the Super Bowl.

BRIGHT CONCEPTSThe basic premise of the “Bright Ideas” program is relatively simple. Sampling/demo events are run every Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. The events are conducted at mobile, state-of-the-art carts that are equipped with refrigeration, microwave ovens and an ample surface area to maximize customer inter-actions.

Employing Walmart’s standard color palette and featuring the company’s spark logo to help them blend with the surroundings, the carts are branded with the “Bright Ideas” name. Three carts are deployed at each

general grocery, snacks, paper goods and cleaning supplies) and one for other areas of the store. The exact locations vary so that the events can be conducted as close to the sampled product’s shelf position as possible.

“Our experience has shown that there’s a very small window of opportunity to really capture the shopper’s attention. The traditional approach, with its fold-up tables, may attract her brie$y, but she’s back on course in an instant,” says Tanya Domier, president of Advantage Sales & Marketing’s Marketing Services Division. “With a more interesting sampling station featuring collateral, P-O-P and — best of all — the merchandise itself, we’ve

SHOPPER EVENTS AT A GLANCEFounded: Formed in October 2008 to launch and manage Walmart’s new “Bright Ideas” in-store event program.Location: Rogers, ARPhone number:URL: www.shopperevents.comNo. of employees: 28, two of whom are “embedded” full-time at Walmart headquarters just a few minutes away in Bentonville. The personnel came primarily from marketing

background includes work at Coca-Cola, Nestle, PepsiCo and Kimberly-Clark) and event management "rms. “We wanted diverse backgrounds, because we didn’t just want to build another demo company,” Pear says.

CAPABILITIES:

and CROSSMARK)

Industry Insights


e!ectively elongated the purchase-consideration time frame.”

at eye level to one of the cart’s canopy poles. They also receive merchan-dising space on both sides of the cart’s front facing. That space — rough-ly the equivalent of a side stack, Pear estimates — o!ers an opportunity for immediate conversion.

Shopper Events charges a $at rate of $200 per store per day, which includes all labor costs, event-day signage, required sampling materials

makes the price of a program in all 2,000 supercenters a $at $400,000, -

keting collateral or premiums are optional, and come at an additional cost.)

BRIGHT DIFFERENCESBeyond the basics, however, the “Bright Ideas” program creates a new blueprint for the sampling industry in a variety of ways. The most signi"cant di!erences are:

The Sta!. The program’s “Event Specialists” were hired by Advantage Sales & Marketing and CROSSMARK speci"cally for this

hours of advanced training before hitting the "eld. CROSSMARK president Joe Crafton jokes that “they could run a restaurant


Although sales "gures vary by product category and program, the average day-of sales lift for “Bright Ideas” programs has been 123%.

Shopper Events understands, though, that measuring sustained sales lift is extremely impor-tant for proving that sampling can be more than just a short-term tactic. Using Walmart’s peerless Retail Link data-sharing system, Shopper Events analyzes sales trends up to four weeks post-event. Ultimately, it hopes to track sales up to 12 or even

In-house analysts examine sales lift versus non-event stores on the Wednesday after the program runs, and results can be shared with the client al-most immediately. Four-week sales are later com-pared with that store’s sales in the four weeks prior

carry the “Bright Ideas” program also come in handy for comparative purposes, Nannie points out.

Frito-Lay’s endless pipeline of new product in-troductions — for which awareness and trial are

“pretty critical” — has led the PepsiCo division to already conduct a number of “Bright Ideas” pro-grams, says Marissa Solis, the snack maker’s se-nior brand manager-Walmart Shopper Marketing. While results have varied, “we are seeing some longer-term lifts” from some of the programs, es-pecially for brands with high established aware-ness, she says.

Shopper Events evaluates and amalgamates all results to build a library of knowledge that can be shared with clients. “We’re learning which prod-ucts are most responsive, and which products work best together,” says Domier. “We can provide quite a lot of quantitative and qualitative data.”

Pear also "rmly believes that the in$uence of “Bright Ideas” programs goes beyond the shop-pers who physically take part. “Brand impressions certainly have an impact. Although it’s historically challenging to quantify event impressions, our sustained event-sales lift analysis is showing im-pressive results,” he says.

BRIGHT RESULTS

Event themes typically complement Walmart’s own consumer communication platforms, such as the chain’s goal of helping shoppers "nd quality meal options at an a!ordable price.

Industry Insights

with the training they get.”The specialists are noti"ed about upcoming

events two weeks in advance, and typically receive their training packets and instructions one week out. Although they are guided on how to present the product, “most of them don’t read from a script,” says Crafton. “We

want them to be friendly, assertive, knowledgeable, and to make eye contact. At the same time, they are trained not to be overly aggressive.”

Permanently assigned to one store — and even selected to complement that location’s speci"c customer pro"le — these "eld reps serve as de facto employees, who not only can become intimately involved in their surroundings, but also can establish an ongoing relationship with shoppers.

“It’s the same people all the time,” says Nannie. “Our average customer is in the store "ve to six times per month, and they are starting to get to know these specialists. There’s a trust that’s developing there.”

chart.) Additional event specialists can be brought in when needed.The Experience. With the same faces manning the branded carts four days each week, the “Bright Ideas”

program is fast becoming a natural part of Walmart’s shopping environment. Crafton notes that one store he’s familiar with has been leaving its cart in position all week long as a permanent, natural part of the scenery.

-room on o! days.)

“Mom gets used to seeing the cart, and will even get to know the Event Specialist’s name,” says Pear. In that way, the Shopper Events em-ployees become trusted advisors “as she looks for new ideas and solutions,” he says.

After six months of operation, customer satisfaction levels are very positive, according to Nannie, who believes “Bright Ideas” ulti-mately will help improve loyalty by becoming a reason for shoppers to choose Walmart over other retailers. “Our customers really like the experience,” he says.

“We’re seeing a lot of heavy tra#c around those carts,” says Gina Thomas Allgaier, a member of the Walmart team for Kraft Foods, which recently concluded a summer-long event.

A ‘Solutions’ Focus. While some past events may have involved straightforward product handouts, that tactic doesn’t quite "t with the program’s goal: to present Walmart shoppers with lifestyle solutions that help them “live better.” To that end, Shopper

“ We want everything that we do in-store to be relevant to the customer.”

Terry Nannie, Walmart

The Event Specialists are hired speci"cally to run the Bright Ideas program and are as-signed to one store on a permanent basis. That gives them an opportunity not only to learn the store’s operational nuances, but more importantly to develop relationships with its customers.

Industry Insights 7

Events works with product marketers to develop promotional themes that are “solutions-based and, of course, value-driven,” to frame the events, explains Pear.

Shopper Events can help clients develop creative to be used in take-ones, brochures and other types of

with shoppers. A personal favorite of Nannie’s is the take-one that explained how best to core a pineapple, along with tips

-apple sampling event, the handout was designed to be a “keeper” that consumers would hold onto for future

“We want di!erent suppliers working together — crock pots and food, for instance — so that we can o!er solutions and not just sam-

insigni"cantly, so Walmart also can generate cross-category sales.) The more innovative the collaboration, the better, he suggests, cit-ing one event in which Kraft promoted Jell-O sugar-free gelatin as a healthy snack option alongside Nintendo’s wildly popular Wii Fit videog-ame.

Themed “Get Fit with Wal-mart,” the program ran from June through August in eight supercenters each weekend.

selected for their high sales volume in both Jell-O and consumer electronics.) Video screens and Wii Fit pads were positioned on either side of the demo cart to let shop-pers play games. Event spe-cialists handed out six-page healthy living guides o!ering tips on dieting and exercise along with the samples.

“It created a lot of excite-


training that qualify them as food safety-certi"ed in preparation and handling

equipped with microwave ovens, refrigera-tion and ample counter space to maximize customer interactions.

8 Industry Insights

Industry Insights 9

Advantage Sales & Marketing LLC is one of the pre-mier sales and marketing agencies in North Ameri-ca, with revenues approaching $1 billion and a ros-ter of more than 1,200 clients that includes some of the most prominent Fortuneand brands in the packaged goods industry.

Formed in 1987, Advantage Sales & Marketing has specialized in outsourced sales, merchandis-ing, category management and marketing ser-vices to manufacturers, suppliers and producers of food products and consumer packaged goods. The company works in a variety of trade channels including grocery, mass, convenience, drug, dollar, club, hardware and home centers, and has more than 20,000 associates in the U.S. and Canada.

The culture at Advantage Sales & Marketing has always been steeped in innovation, tracing back decades to chief executive Sonny King’s vision that the CPG landscape — serviced then by small, regional companies — had pent-up demand for a national player. This eye on the future still drives the organiza-tion, which sets its sights on being at the forefront of peo-ple development and informa-tion technology, develops new models for operational excel-lence, and constantly searches for new ways to deliver value to its customers and clients.

One example of this practi-cal innovation occurred a de-cade ago, when the company launched its Marketing Ser-vices Division “after noticing several gaps in the traditional promotion agency model,” says division president Tanya Domier. “With no linkage to sales, traditional agencies op-erated in a vacuum, producing ideas that just weren’t execut-able in a store environment or within brand budgets. They lacked the knowledge and re-

sources needed to tailor campaigns to customer priorities and tactical preferences.”

The company now operates a complete port-folio of marketing solutions through "ve business

--

gies and execution).Having long understood that the store environ-

ment provides “one of the most relevant ways to connect with consumers,” Advantage Sales & Mar-keting has been preparing itself for the industry’s shift to shopper marketing by, among other initia-tives, building up its tactical expertise through ac-quisition — after meticulously evaluating all avail-able options to identify the ones that produce the best results for clients. “We’re very excited about using the in-store experience to bring the concept

of shopper marketing to life,” says Domier.

Naturally, the company is also thrilled to be working with its new retail client. “Walmart had the foresight to see that an enhanced demo program could be an intrinsic part of improving the shopping ex-perience,” says Domier. “We helped them recognize weak-nesses in the existing model that, if "xed, would send a dra-matically di!erent message to shoppers — one that was far more consistent with who Wal-mart wanted to be.”

Shopper Events is “more than an execution company,” she says. “Instead of a third-party temp handing out free samples, you have a familiar face who can inspire you with ‘Bright Ideas.’ That sends a signi"cantly di!er-ent message to shoppers.”

ABOUT ADVANTAGE SALES & MARKETING


10 Industry Insights

CROSSMARK has more than 100 years of experi-ence as a sales, marketing and merchandising ser-vices company. Its global workforce of more than 20,000 employees includes nearly 13,000 in-store associates who make more than six million annu-al retail calls on behalf of such blue-chip clients as Frito-Lay, General Mills, Johnson & Johnson, Kim-berly-Clark, L’Oreal, Nestle and Reckitt Benckiser.

The company has been working with Walmart

In the 1980s, as the retailer "rst began to emerge as a major force in the industry, CROSSMARK began building a dedicated national project team to bet-ter serve clients’ growing businesses at the chain.

While witnessing the increasingly important role that in-store mar-keting has taken among its clients, and the corre-sponding shift of mass-marketing dollars into retail activity, CROSS-MARK began to envi-sion new opportunities beyond its traditional realm of sales and mar-keting services.

acquired Marketing Solu-

to use as a springboard for a stronger push into event services, explains president Joe Crafton. The plan was to use CROSSMARK’s national platform and deep client relationships to help the small demo company grow.

The acquisition added another set of capabili-ties to CROSSMARK’s existing Retailer Solutions practice, which already included headquarter sell-ing, category resets, private-label merchandising, data collection and "eld marketing. In spring 2009, strength in those areas led drugstore giant Wal-greens to tap CROSSMARK as its preferred vendor for all in-store merchandising activity.

Soon after the MSI acquisition, CROSSMARK

learned that Walmart was unhappy with its cur-rent demo activity and met with the retailer to understand how it could improve the program. The company even helped the chain begin test-ing new models.

The allure of working with the world’s largest retailer made CROSSMARK willing to devote sig-ni"cant resources to Walmart’s review process — and even to join forces with rival Advantage Sales & Marketing to gain an edge in the review, Crafton

-tracts to a single supplier.) “It made sense for us to normalize operations, as opposed to each of us having our own protocols,” he explains. “We both

had a common goal: to win the account and bring Walmart’s vi-sion to life.”

“We really think Walmart has enhanced the customer experi-ence with this program,” says Crafton. “There aren’t a lot of messaging opportunities in the store today. We’re trying to give brand marketers a really great le-ver that they can pull — and, it’s 100 feet from the cash register.”

ABOUT CROSSMARK

ment in the stores” and, in addition to gaining strong trial, generated a sustained sales lift in the stores that executed early in the promotional window, says Kraft’s Allgaier. “Early indicators are that it was a success.”

For Earth Day in April, Frito-Lay handed out mini-versions of the fully compostable bags in which SunChips will be packaged beginning in 2010. An accompanying brochure explained the decomposition process.

healthy initiative and Frito-Lay’s sustainability theme were right on point.) Walmart reserves the right to reject any proposal that con$icts with its own promotional calendar or distracts from its key messages. In fact, the EventTrack planning software developed speci"cally for Shopper Events can prevent many such potential problems: “It’ll keep you from sampling fried chicken wings during Women’s Health Week,” Crafton says.

Walmart also programs the “Bright Ideas” schedule with a number of its own vendor-supported events, such as the aforementioned Super Bowl e!ort and a “Joy of Ice Cream” program last spring. It also has been using “Bright Ideas” to introduce shoppers to a variety of private-label o!erings, including events this spring to help relaunch the Great Value brand. “It o!ered a great opportunity to show how good the quality is,” Nannie says.

Also "tting well with the strategic plan has been a series of “split demos” pairing fresh produce with relevant packaged goods: lettuce and salad dressing, celery and peanut butter. “We’re taking brands from the center store out to the produce department” to the bene"t of both, notes Domier.

The Drive for Integration. Walmart doesn’t view “Bright Ideas” as an isolated program for product demonstrations, but as a key component of the integrated, collaborative campaigns with national brands that have been the retailer’s mar-keting directive for nearly two years now. The goal is to partner on programs that cut across all consumer touchpoints inside

“ The in-store sampling experience at Walmart is absolutely best in class. We’ve renewed our dedication to our customers by providing them with a clean, friendly and consistent experience.”

Stephen Quinn, Walmart

Take-ones allow brand marketers to give shoppers more information than can be explained by the Event Specialists or “digested” by shoppers during the event.

Industry Insights 11


“This "ts in with everything else that we’re trying to do,” explains Nannie. “We look at the products that will be demo’ed, and we "nd ways to integrate them — into the tab, with ads on Smart Network, and elsewhere.”

The process works in the opposite direction as well: Walmart evaluates the brands scheduled for other activ-ity — like endcap space or Smart Network programming — to determine if they’d also bene"t from a “Bright Ideas” program. “We’re assessing everything that comes in to see what would "t with the other opportunities we have,” Nannie says. “The merchants are very fond of this program.”

P&G’s Swi!er, as an example, utilized both “Bright Ideas” demos and Smart Network ads concurrently and saw very positive results, Nannie says. “The mix is pretty strong.”

approach works very well at Walmart,” especially for launches or products that require some consumer education, says Allgaier. “The numbers that we’ve seen show a greater lift” when marketing vehicles are used in tandem, she says.

Starting the process of developing an integrated campaign is “as simple as making a phone call” either to Walmart or Shopper Events, Nannie says.

BRIGHT FUTURESOf course, the aspect that most sets “Bright Ideas’ apart from other previous sampling programs is its venue: Walmart, the world’s largest retailer and, based on those weekly tra#c counts, the world’s largest media op-portunity, too. “You have the best of both worlds: reach and a direct, proven tactic for in$uencing behavior,” says Domier.

Nannie thinks that, ultimately, the program can expand beyond the grocery and household departments -

tional sta#ng). He also believes that the concept can "nd a home in just about any store format that Walmart launches.

“We can reach out to customer groups that we haven’t been able to focus on before,” says Nannie, citing the Hispanic-$avored events taking place at the Supermercado de Walmart stores. “This program really has a chance to shine.”

Copyright © 2009 All Rights Reserved | Shopper Events/In-Store Marketing Institute

Shopper Events903 N. 47th Street, Suite 201

www.shopperevents.com

ABOUT THE IN-STORE MARKETING INSTITUTEThe In-Store Marketing Institute is a global organization of brand marketers, retailers, agencies and manufacturers focused on improving retail marketing strategy worldwide. The Institute serves the needs of its membership by providing information, research, education and training, networking opportunities, trade publications and a trade show designed to further the understanding, acceptance and e!ectiveness of in-store marketing. For more information, go to www.instoremarketer.org.

FOOTNOTES1 “Sampling’s Long Tail Extends 20 Weeks Out,” an In-Store

Marketing Institute analysis of research from Knowledge Networks/Promotion Decisions Inc., August 2009

2 Heilman, et al. “The E!ect of In-Store Free Samples on

3 “Arbitron Product Sampling Study,” 2008

“ Our average customer is in the store !ve to six times per month, and they are starting to get to know [these specialists]. There’s a trust that’s developing there.”

Terry Nannie, Walmart

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